053 - A Long Time Ago (C) - (WITH PRESENTATION)

The shanty sometimes was sung in lively fashion, other times slow and melancholy, depending on the shantyman. Sometimes it was used at the capstan and then a full chorus been added. This song will be singing as an ancor-capstan shanty.
"Shanties from the Seven Seas" by Stan Hugill (1st ed: p 99,100).



A Long Time Ago (C)

The ships they lay in 'Frisco Bay,
   - To me WAY, hay, HO,high ho!
The ships they lay in 'Frisco Bay,
   - A LONG time aGO!

   - A long, long time, an' a very long time,
   - To me WAY, hay, HO,high ho!
   - A long, long time, and a very long time,
   - A LONG time aGO!
                     *2*
An' one o' these packets wuz ol' Noah's Ark,
All covered all over with hickory bark.

                     *3*
They filled up her seams with oakum an' pitch,
Her sails wuz baldly in need o' a stitch.

                     *4*
Her bow it wuz bluff an' her counter wuz round,
Her knees wuz so thin, an' her timbers unsound.

                     *5*
Her fo'c'sle wuz low, an' her starn wuz too high,
The hold for the animals never wuz dry.

                   *6*
Her pumps they wuz jammed and her fores'l wuz torn,
She looked like an ol' Spanish galley-eye-orn.

                   *7*
Now this is the gangway the animals went down,
An' this is the hold were they walk round an' round.

                   *8*
Ol' Noah of old he commanded this Ark,
His cargo wuz animals out for a lark.

                   *9*
He boarded the animals, two of each kind,
Birds, snakes, an' jiggy-bugs, he didn't mind.

                   *10*
The animals rolled up, oh, two by two,
The elephant casin' the kangaroo.

                   *11*
The bull an' the cow they started a row,
The bull did his best to horn the cow.

                   *12*
Then Ol' Noah said with a flick o' his whip,
'Stop this bloody row, or I'll scuttle the ship.'

                   *13*
An' the bull put his horns through the side o' the ark,
An' the little black doggie, he started to bark.

                   *14*
So Noah took the dog, put his nose in the hole,
An' ever since then the dog's nose has been cold.

                   *15*
The animals came in three by three,
The elephant ridin' the back o' the flea.

                   *16*
The animals came in four by four,
Ol' Noah wentmad an' he hollered for more.

                   *17*
The animals came in five by five,
Some wuz half-dead, an' some half-alive.

                   *18*
The animals came in six by six,
The hyena laughed at the monkey's tricks.

                   *19*
The monkey was dressed up in soger's clo'es;
Where he got 'em from, God only knows.

                   *20*
The animals came in seven by seven,
Sez the ant to the elephant, 'who are yer shovin'?'

                   *21*
The animals came in eight by eight,
A drunken big chimp an' a scabby big ape.

                  *22*
The animals came in nine by nine,
The sea-lions havin' a bloomin' fine time.

                  *23*
The animals came in ten by ten,
The Ark with a shriek blew her whistle then.

                *24*
An' Noah while working at loading her stock,
Had anchored the Ark with a bloody great rock.

                *25*
Ol' Noah he then hove the gang-plank in,
An' then the long voyage it sure did begin.

                *26*
They hadn't the foggiest where they wuz at,
Untill they piled right up on ol' Ararat.

                *27*
The ol' Ark with a bump landed high an' dry,
And the bear give the turkey a sailor's goodbye.

               *28*
I thought that I heard Ol' Noah say,
Give one more pull lads, an' then belay!